What Made Us So Compliant With Insane, Tyrannical COVID Policies?

Guest Post by Charles Eisenstein

tyrannical covid policies feature

I’m resuming my occasional series discussing the ground conditions that make society susceptible to pandemania. See my last pandemania post if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

I’m moved to resume this series because of some conversations I’ve had over the last few days that reminded me of why I am not letting the issue drop.

A man, I’ll call him Kyle, shared a story with me last weekend. He was a nursing home administrator who, without much question, because it was necessary to keep his job, got the mRNA injections.

Immediately following the second, he had an anaphylactic reaction and was rushed to the emergency room.

He barely survived.

Subsequently, he had to leave his job because it was requiring all staff to receive booster injections. He shared his experience on social media, but his posts were removed for violating community standards.

Months later he looked himself up in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, to see if his case had been reported. It hadn’t.

Kyle didn’t seem angry at what had happened to him, but his trust in the system will probably never be restored.

Others I talked to are not so equanimous.

They are furious, and their fury does not diminish when they are told to forgive and forget, with no accountability for the people who enforced COVID-19 policies and no reason to think such a thing won’t happen again.

This fury can easily be channeled onto innocent or superficial targets. The danger that we blithely return to normal as if pandemania never happened is matched by the danger that the fury will be turned into fuel for hatred of each other.

Indeed, the most shocking aspect of pandemania was the splitting of society, of churches, clubs, schools and even families into warring camps.

Can we survey the debacle without escaping into superficial explanations and false blame?

I am writing this occasional series to do my small part to prevent pandemania from happening again. In my view, it is not enough to remove corrupt officials from power or to reform medical, pharmaceutical and regulatory institutions.

My inquiry is: What makes us as a society so vulnerable to their manipulation, to begin with?

What made us so compliant with COVID-19 insanity, so willing to believe the lies, so ready to acquiesce to degrading, tyrannical and irrational policies?

The first two conditions were the fixation on enemies, and mob morality and mass formation.

On to number three…

As long as the debate around public health policy takes for granted the assumption that its goal is to minimize illness and death, then inevitably, other values will be sacrificed at the altar of safety.

Civil liberties do not keep people safe.

Parties and raves do not keep people safe. Hugs and handshakes, live performances, festivals, singing groups and soccer games do not keep people safe. Children are safer at home than on the playground. They are safer in front of their screens than out of doors. Even without COVID-19, this is all true.

When we debate whether masks or lockdowns actually made any difference in COVID-19 illness or mortality, we tacitly grant the premise that if they did help, then we should do them.

We accept risk minimization as the paramount guiding principle of public policy. Accepting that, it follows that we should mask, distance and lock down forever. Why not — if safety is what we live for?

Does that sound far-fetched?

Various health authorities advise it, notably the new chair of the World Health Organization Technical Advisory Group, Susan Michie. Dr. Anthony Fauci opined in 2020 that we should never shake hands again. If we make everything about safety, they are probably right.

Actually, let me take that back: They are probably wrong.

The irony of the pursuit of safety is that it brings temporary success but, quite often, even more danger in the long run.

Consider the extreme, in which each person lives in an aseptic bubble. No disease vector can enter, so they are perfectly safe from infection.

On the other hand, without challenges their immune system deteriorates, leaving them vulnerable to any normally innocuous germ that gets in. They must maintain constant vigilance. They will never feel truly safe.

Furthermore, even if no germ ever gets in, they will suffer other ailments because beneficial microbiota will not be replenished and modulated through constant interchange with the outside world.

Life does not thrive in isolation.

During COVID-19 pandemania, no one lived in an absolute hermetic bubble, but there are nonetheless indications that the reduced transmission of colds and flus did weaken people’s immune systems.

Lots of people reported catching “the mother of all colds” after lockdowns were relaxed.

Higher rates of mortality post-pandemania might be due not only to vaccine damage but to the general disruption in immunity and well-being stemming from isolation.

In a further irony, it now appears that the shots may not even make people safer from COVID-19 (see here for an entrance to that rabbit hole).

In short, obsession with safety bears perverse fruit.

It is the same with all forms of the security state. Countries with lots of prisons, big armies and foreign wars tend to suffer high levels of crime, domestic violence and violence-to-self (suicide).

If we make everything about safety, the public will be easily manipulated by appeals to whatever threat makes them unsafe.

To immunize ourselves against that, we have to recognize other values, such as fun, exploration of boundaries, adventure, sociality, touch, laughing together, crying together, breathing together and dancing together.

After all, the goal of life cannot be to one day go to your grave having been as safe as possible.

art of play natasza zurek
The Art of Play. Credit: Natasza Zurek

One obvious objection to the foregoing is, “It is fine to take risks oneself, but unethical to do anything that compromises the safety of others. No one has the right to put others at risk.”

Furthermore, since taking risks oneself potentially uses up hospital beds that could go to the severely ill, any risky behavior actually puts others at risk too.

This is a straw-man argument.

The point is not maximum freedom in reckless disregard for others’ well-being. It is that collectively as well as individually, we must affirm other values besides safety.

In the title essay of my new book, “The Coronation,” I asked:

“Would I ask all the nation’s children to forego play for a season if it would reduce my mother’s risk of dying, or for that matter, my own risk? Or I might ask, Would I decree the end of hugging and handshakes, if it would save my own life?”

My point was that collectively, we were decreeing precisely that. We did so because we upheld safety as the paramount virtue. Social contact, civil liberties and the rest were construed as not “essential,” their sacrifice a minor inconvenience.

Collectively, at least in our political consensus, we decided to stay as safe as possible.

Under what circumstance would it actually make sense to pursue a life of risk minimization? Well, it might make sense if you were otherwise immortal; if by avoiding illness and injury you might stay alive forever.

Almost no one actually believes they might live forever, but many of us behave as if we could. That is why near-death experiences are often so transformative.

The same goes for the death of a loved one, or a close brush with death oneself. These unravel the illusion of permanence that modern culture so assiduously seeks to maintain.

I won’t say more about this, as I’ve written about death phobia extensively in “The Coronation” and talked about it a lot on podcasts, and I’m tired of saying the same thing over and over.

It should be obvious — the goal of life cannot be to survive it, and the attempt consigns us to a cramped and fearful half-life.

The mania for safety and the phobia of death are not a sudden, inexplicable madness.

They are part of an encompassing state of human beingness that has reached its extreme in modern civilization. It is the separate self cast away in a spiritless material world that yearns to protect itself above all else.

Those who know themselves to be part of a story bigger than their biography more willingly risk life for its sake.

The best example of that is simply the love story. To love is to include others in the circle of self. It is to expand beyond one’s individuality. Your pain and your joy are inseparable from your beloveds.

Of course, we still want to stay alive, but for the lover, it is not the absolute highest priority.

That is why I have long warned the environmental movement away from the rhetoric of “We must change our ways, or we will not survive.”

The real solution is to fall back in love with the living world, to see it as a beloved, not as a collection of resources, a waste dump, or an engineering project.

Then we will not only survive; we will flourish, as one does when they are partnered with their lover.

Safety mania and death phobia are signs of disconnection from purpose and passion. If you have nothing more important than your own life, then preserving life is left as the only purpose.

Because our civilizational answer to “Why are we here?” has unraveled, many of us individually have trouble answering that question too, for the individual story draws from the collective.

OK, I realize I may have risen to too high an altitude for the practical purpose of preventing the next bout of pandemania.

So I will end with this: We can reduce our general susceptibility to fear-mongering by reducing the levels of fear current in society.

A society ridden with fear will acquiesce to any policy that promises safety. How do we reduce ambient levels of fear?

There is no single answer. Besides, each one of us already knows how.

Originally published on Charles Eisenstein’s Substack page.

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flash
flash

Not what , but who…MAGA, baby.

“CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus…We have a perfectly coordinated and fine-tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus…The vaccines are being delivered to the states by the Federal Government far faster than they can be administered!” The Golden Goyim

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flash
flash

A friend told me that he ” knows what’s going on” because he “watches Fox News” …ha ha ha.

“Nearly the entire corporate media took money from the Biden Administration to push the vaccines to their audiences without disclosing it. More importantly, so-called “conservative” media organizations took money from the Biden Administration to spin positive stories about deadly and ineffective vaccines to their conservative viwers who were right to be suspicious — and did not disclose it.

“Fox News took the money and said nothing to its conservative viewers.

“Newsmax took the money and said nothing to its conservative viewers.

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Paleocon
Paleocon

Chris Ruddy probably gave another million to the Clintons.

BL
BL

Flash- That is because alternative “CONservative” news sites are run by and owned by the same entities as the libfuk sites. It’s the Uniparty version of media and information. Yeah, I don’t trust any of it.

Yahsure
Yahsure

All the hero worship of the man who brought us the beer flu and pushed experimental drugs. “no liability” think of the small businesses destroyed in the last few years. I still remember large corporations getting bailed out really fast, a nice transfer of wealth from the middle class.

hardscrabble farmer

Us?

What made you so compliant, Eisenstein?

Here’s the thing; if you approach a crosswalk at a busy intersection and there is a green light and you step into the street without looking both ways, you are either stupid or a robot. Green lights are an indicator, not a guarantee.

That’s how society operates. There are all types of warnings and threat assessments which must be made on an almost constant basis unless you are asleep in your bed. Those are your responsibility. You do not give them up simply because some other human being tells you to. You are the one who serves as the final arbiter of your fate, the ultimate advocate for your fundamental rights. Society is not your conscience, it is a force of nature like the weather and it can be either mild and pleasant or it can kill you depending upon the conditions and your ability to read them quickly and accurately. How many times have you heard about people taking shelter beneath a tree in the middle of a thunderstorm in order to stay dry only to be struck dead by lightning?

Mankind exists on a continuum between freedom and servitude. In both cases there exists the potential for safety and risk. Prisons provide 100% government oversight, control and management, yet they remain one of the most violent and threatening environments on Earth. Complete surrender of liberty is no guarantee of safety.

Most people surrender their ability to exercise their freedom because they are convinced that it puts them at far greater risk than if they simply comply with whatever authority demands of them. Others bridle at the thought of surrendering their ability to make decisions for themselves regardless of how much risk that choice entails and will accept a standard of living so horrible it is nearly impossible to imagine- think the drug addled homeless of Kensington Street in Philadelphia.

Everyone possesses the ability to choose for themselves what degree of submission or resistance they are willing to accept in exchange for whatever degree of freedom or security they desire. The only thing everyone is obliged to accept is the fact that there are no guarantees in life regardless of the choices they make.

flash
flash

Under pressure, pension whores will sacrifice themselves to get dat’ money. It’s muh capitalism , bruh.

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https://dossier.substack.com/p/military-whistleblowers-dods-legally?r=7ys8v&s=r

AKJohn
AKJohn

I was a driver instructor and taught defensive driving classes. I always talked about this. People trust the light more than their own eyes. So, yes, they are more or less robots. But I think it is more zombielike.

Ghost
Ghost

Yes.

I would add a version of Sound of Silence.

grace country pastor

That song never fails to give me chills.

AKJohn
AKJohn

The sound of silence is one aspect of the Holy Spirit. Once you experience it, you will never be the same as you now know how dearly God loves you.

Smedley Mulcher
Smedley Mulcher

“Furthermore, even if no germ ever gets in, they will suffer other ailments because beneficial microbiota will not be replenished and modulated through constant interchange with the outside world.

Life does not thrive in isolation.”

This is correct and based on good science not politically weaponized scientism. Do we want to live with heart or do we want to live inside a bubble of fear? The choice is up to us.

Svarga Loka
Svarga Loka

I cannot tell you how many times my children have climbed trees, high fences or anything of that sort with me nearby, pretending to just read a book but having a watchful eye on them, and then a stranger telling them to come down because “It’s not safe!”

The problem is that SAFETY has become a goal of how to live your life, a virtue in and of itself.

Anonymous
Anonymous

A some point, safety becomes captivity.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Yes.

We need to divide society into the fearful and the free.

Great big walls all around with razor wire on top and little concrete safe rooms with locking doors for the residents. No weapons, vehicles or possessions allowed. All will be supplied and regimented. No thinking required.

The rest of us can live outside the jail.

AKJohn
AKJohn

Very sad. When people project their fears on kids. The only fear I ever had was not living enough. I live by the creed; only the bold, courageous, and strong can have heaven.

Ghost
Ghost

I have reported your neglect.

/s

I have a photo of my son on the edge of a rock outcropping over the edge Grand Canyon.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Never complied with any of it, actively mocked all of it every chance I had, still do. Laugh at anyone in a mask. Would never get the jab. Debated my physician until he hung up on me. Never comply.

tony
tony

i wish kyle had died and soon enough he shall. i hate murderers like him. but the reasons for the problem are ignorance and being a sheep. the ignorance is cultivated by talmudavision and all of its vile lies – like germs cause sickness. the other problem is that education and corporatocracy are used to create obedient sheep. a nation which is stupid enough to believe that a single bullet killed a president and maimed a governor is stupid enough to believe that “vaccines” are “safe and effective”. a nation stupid enough to believe that jews are god’s chosen people are stupid enough to be slaughtered by them. why is the cdc reorganizing? because all of its leaders are jews who have been caught red handed murdering and lying.

why would anyone take an experimental gene editing drug for a condition with a 99.9% recovery rate?

Putin it where it counts
Putin it where it counts

Driving has a 99.9% survival rate but you do it every day.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Spirit of Fear; Great Falling Away; Trusting in Their Own Mind.

Anonymous
Anonymous

It is fine to take risks oneself, but unethical to do anything that compromises the safety of others. No one has the right to put others at risk.”

This is a straw-man argument.

No. It’s not a straw man argument. It’s a ridiculous non-argument, but it’s not a straw-man.

Stucky

“What Made Us So Compliant With Insane, Tyrannical COVID Policies?”

NJ’s shitfuk governor is NOT lifting all Covid restrictions despite the newest CDC guidelines. NO ONE has any objections to this. Today’s NJ Shit Ledger stated that ALL Rutgers professors AND students will still be required to wear masks, be vaccinated AND get whatever boosters are are available now as well as those coming in the future. NO ONE has any objections to this.

That’s why. We’re a nation of Pussies. (Especially in blue states.)

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Paleocon
Paleocon

What Made Us So Compliant With Insane, Tyrannical COVID Policies? Fear and it is still plentiful.

flash
flash

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Stucky

I think that thing above is actually Liz Cheney.

Tell me why I’m wrong.

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Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

This video is a big reason we are so compliant. I never tire of posting this because it is so true. We have been totally demoralized.

AKJohn
AKJohn

I have seen it a few times. But it has many excellent points. Yes, the masses are totally brainwashed. But everyone is affected by it in some ways. Whether it is self or friends and family.

Yahsure
Yahsure

Else than putting a mask on a few times”doctor’s office and bank” I lived my life as I normally would. I figured the covid stuff was BS right off the bat. The many articles here showed me I was right.
Inflation and shortages of products have been going on lately.

clbrto
clbrto

I am not compliant.

Rejection of the system is on a spectrum, and I’m a long-time fringe dweller.

Putin it where it counts
Putin it where it counts

No one actually died of covid. They were deported to Russia to prop up their flagging birth rates.

Token Whitey
Token Whitey

You know how every psyop has some notes of truth? I sometimes wonder if Q’s “4-6% will be lost forever” is their estimate on how many won’t ever comply, even once CBDC is rolled out and we’re under full tyranny.

I have no intention of ever complying and have already decided I will live and die as an American, regardless of the consequences. I don’t care about surviving either because who wants to live in the hell they’re creating anyway? I can already barely stand things now and I know it’s going to get far worse going forward. So fuck it. I have nothing to lose by standing my ground.

Marky
Marky

Oh God another Covid article. We will ever hear the end of it? Suffering from Covid fatigue without actually having covid is becoming more debilitating than the actual disease that doesn’t really exist. This is so confusing.

Unbelievable
Unbelievable

Life does not thrive in isolation.

I was talking to a guy earlier this week who told me he was glad his church finally opened up because, before, you could only attend there by making a reservation.

Mike
Mike

What made most people compliant is fear and stupidity and the desire to fit in with the herd.

I got a hell of an education during the Covid hoax. I realized just how many complete idiots there are in this country. The people I’m referring to don’t think and they don’t question and they believe whatever they see on the television. The other thing about these people is that no matter how many facts or how much evidence you present to them that shows that they are being lied to, they absolutely will dismiss it and will refuse to even review it.

It reminds me of the movie The Matrix. These people do not want to be unplugged and will fiercely defend the dream world they live in. I’ve actually stopped trying to tell people about the Covid hoax or about the vaccines. I’ve realized that if they’re stupid enough to believe the criminals in government, then they deserve what they get.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I have been saying for two years, “Let them take the jab and die”. They are the enemy. Those who mindlessly obey will demand you do so too. We are far better off if they all die.

Rachel
Rachel

Fear Porn, that’s what did it and the simple fact that over half of the country seems to be stone stupid anymore.
Wanna get over it, turn off the dam TV, it’s all you gotta do. Turn them off and research things for yourself.
And for Brain Dead stone stupid “Flash” below.
I’m totally in Awe and the FEAR people like him have of President Trump. Makes me support him even more.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Turn off the TV? You may as well ask them to stop breathing.

EVERYONE I know has the TV on from first morning coffee to bedtime. They aren’t actively listening or watching, just being subliminally programmed. It is habit. Get up, turn on TV, make coffee.

The worst offenders have a 24 hour news channel on all day, which repeats the same stories every hour. By the end of their day they have subliminally heard the same lies 8+ times.

I have tried to convince people to break free of the TV for decades. I can get them to nod in agreement that it is “brainwashing for idiots” but they will not get rid of the TV. They, of course, think they are special and immune to being brainwashed. Only those other stupid and gullible people are susceptible to the programming.

Fucking hopeless. A mass die off really looks appealing these days. MORE JABS! Repeat until all the worthless fucks are dead!

Daddy Joe
Daddy Joe

Thank you, Mr. Eisenstein and admin. Nailed it. Compliance is due to “safety mania and death phobia” Our “illusion of permanence” and our trust of science and technology (esp medicine) give society a sense of entitlement to a life free of all risk, discomfort, disease, aging, and ultimately even death. Hell, anyone besides me notice how much advertising and products are directed just to eliminating bad smells? It’s not just about BO anymore–its bad laundry, plug-in de-stinkers gone bad, 24 hour febreeze, carpet deodorizers, pets–and the previously unmentionable “stink down below”.
Now that was a rabbit trail, but the point is we’re now entitled to a life even free of stinks. Much more so disease, disability and death. The fix, if there is one is personal and societal acknowledgement that death is not only inevitable and unavoidable, but is just a natural part of life. This is a central belief of Christians and Stoics, but unfortunately most of us still have both feet planted firmly and exclusively in this world even though we can see it passing before our eyes.

Mildred H.
Mildred H.

“The game is to have them all running about with fire extinguishers when there is a flood, and all crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gunwale under.” C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

rhs jr
rhs jr

American public schools teach very elementary Biology in the 10th grade, and very few students then elect to take Human Physiology. The public education is so dumbed down, students don’t learn enough to understand the working of DNA and mRNA etc; spike proteins, blood clotting, immunology, adverse reactions, gene splicing, etc. They don’t know any better and they trusted the lying government experts. The public is learning a bitter lesson.

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